


Girls und Cars

by Boomskyfox



Category: Formula 1 RPF, Girls und Panzer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Formula One, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27053461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boomskyfox/pseuds/Boomskyfox
Summary: What if the cast of Girls und Panzer drove F1 cars? Join me as Miho faces the team problems of racing classic Formula One cars around various circuits in Japan and attempts to save a school from imminent collapse.





	Girls und Cars

Story starts beneath first line

Welcome, I am honestly not sure what, if anything, will come of this, but I had a vision. One that caught your eye, apparently. If someone else wants to take this somewhere (i.e. dedicate themselves to making a story), be my guest. I feel that I lack the time, creativity, and willpower to do much of anything with this story, but, before click off to read some other story, hear me out. There are a few ways this story can go, and I want you, the community, to tell me which way is the best.

The first and somewhat easiest is retaining the schools (and their themes), characters, etcetera, from Girls und Panzer, thereby justifying that fandom tag on the fanfic. This means that this classic formula car race would replace Sensha-do, not coexist with it. This is my preferred route to go - simply due to time constraints – even with its problems. There are two major problems, however. First, the importance of many characters would be reduced as 5 would be the focus for the entire team (2 drivers, 2 race engineers, a team principal, and maybe the pit crew?). That, in some sense, takes away from the teamwork focus of the series, although not entirely, as communication between the drivers and the race engineers – as well as each other, possibly – could prove vital. A small issue would be the location of the schools, as aircraft carriers do not fit the theme. That could be resolved by making the schools into the design and production facilities. Granted, that removes the teams’ mobility, but that is the most fitting solution that I could create.

Alright, time for the biggest issue with this first concept: deciding what cars and era, are represented. For example, in Girls und Panzer, Pravda is presented as a major school with a lot of weight to back itself up. However, in F1, two Russian teams (technically three) have challenged the grid, and, with a 9 th place finish as the only points to their name, it is safe to say that they did not perform well. The simplest solution would be to switch which teams are important, with one of the French schools (likely Maginot) replacing Pravda and/or Saunders in terms of power. In order to include the most diversity in terms of the preexisting schools, the era would probably have to be the 2000s/2010s. Certain schools, will have to be eliminated, due to a lack of real teams, and the competition will function like a normal race championship. I am likely forgetting something, but let us move forward.

The second, but similar, option is to put the teams from GuP into a Formula SAE/Formula Student competition. For the unaware, the competitions are real events where college engineering students design small open-wheel cars. For obvious reasons, these cars are cheaper, smaller, slower, and less exciting than those of Formula One, but they offer more of a focus on large group teamwork as the girls would have to actually design and make the cars. The real competitions do not include true races, more like time trials, but that would be changed for the story. This could be in the same universe as the above option, like Tankathlon, or it could be separate. That is all that I can think to say at the moment for this option.

Option number three is actually two options. Simply put, it is creating a new world, with new schools and new characters, being completely unrelated to GuP. It would be either classic F1 cars or Formula SAE racing. Such a story would be Formula One/Original Work, and the only connection to Girls und Panzer would be the concept of high school age girls competing in a competition that is extremely dangerous and would never happen in real life. Possible inspiration for this could come from you guys, the readers, by creating your own schools and characters. With all of that out of the way, the following text is an early draft following the concept of option #1. There’s five lights and its Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

* * *

Prologue

“Hello and welcome back to the Fuji International Speedway for the final round of Kuruma-dō! My name is Kay and with me in the booth is my friend Naomi.” The bright and bubbly Kay of Saunders University High School appears on television screens across Japan as her melodic voice rings out 

“Before we switch over to Alisa down by the pit wall, let’s discuss the rumors for next season. First off, Saunders is proud to announce its return to the sport with a team of its own. That’s right! We are coming back, and I am the team principal! Yep, pretty nice, right? Not sure if I can keep this commentator job, but I’ll find a way.” Kay’s cheery manner has always been a bright spot in a race weekend, so it would be a shame to lose that.

“Anyway, Kuromorimine has also announced their plans to return next season.” She continues.

Naomi interrupts her, whining, “Ugh great. We choose to join when a team with an amazing pedigree comes back?”

Kay replies with her trademark enthusiasm, “We’ve got this! Plus, this is great fun, either way. It gets even better! As many of you know, Ooarai’s ban from the sport ends this season. Will they return? Also, Blue Division, for the first time in the school’s history, is launching a Kuruma-dō team! Ten teams on the grid again! Could you imagine that, Naomi?”

“Blue Division already tried to get into the sport and failed, so I doubt they’ll last long. Ooarai has enough problems to deal with as is. I can’t wait to see their single car team. Ha!” Naomi is overly competitive, that’s all it is. Right? Just her competitive rudeness?

“With all of that out of the way, let’s see what Alisa is up to, shall we?” The screen flips to Alisa standing on the pit wall, playfully flirting with a few of the mechanics.

“Oh, we’re live, right? Right. Yesterday’s quali saw an impressive 1 st & 4 th placement from Maginot and St. Gloriana’s consistency paid off again with a 2 nd & 3 rd start. Despite their equipment, Anzio takes a stellar 5 th & 7 th . Chi-Ha-Tan takes a poor 6 th & 10 th , although they tend to improve over the course of a race. Pravda’s disappointing 8th & 12 th is par for the course for the team in their inaugural season. Most unfortunate is the 9 th & 11 th grid places for BC Freedom, who’s Prost AP03s have no pace compared to most of the other cars on the grid.” Alisa’s face had a slight blush at being caught, but she managed to say her part with minimal stuttering.

“Thank you Alisa!” replies Kay with a wink and a smug grin. “The cars are on grid, and the teams have just cleared off.” By this point the drivers can barely hear her over the roar of the V10s and V8s. “One light. Two, three, four, all five lights are on, and they’re off! Let’s go racing, girls!”

Starting Grid

1st-Fondue (Maginot)

| 

2nd-Rosehip (St. Gloriana)  
  
---|---  
  
3rd-Rukuriri (St. Gloriana)

| 

4th-Galette (Maginot)  
  
5th-Pepperoni (Anzio)

| 

6th-Ikeda (Chi-Ha-Tan)  
  
7th-Amaretto (Anzio)

| 

8th-Natalia (Pravda)  
  
9th-Moule (BC Freedom)

| 

10th-Miho (Chi-Ha-Tan)  
  
11th-Bordeaux (BC Freedom)

| 

12th-Lisa (Pravda)  
  
* * *

(Focus shift to Miho)

The cars lurched forward from their grid places as they made for the hairpin. Chi-Ha-Tan’s 2 nd driver, Miho Nishizumi, started from 10 th . ‘The Toyota TF102 wasn’t a good car,’ she thought, ‘granted, none of the cars on the track are, as this was a budget car year.’ Miho rode down the down the inside, overtaking Moule on the downhill run into the right hairpin. She could feel the light bumps from the collisions with other cars that are to be expected on the first corner. ‘I hope everyone gets through okay,’ she says in her head.

Getting a large amount of grip coming out the corner, Miho quickly moves through the gears, closing in on the squabbling pair of Natalia and Amaretto. Natalia nestles herself in Amaretto’s slipstream, before quickly moving out and past, leaving the Anzio schoolgirl behind to the flying Miho. Unfortunately for Miho, she was too far away to make the lunge. However, they were approaching turns 10-16, a series of uphill hairpins with little distance between each other. Miho’s unorthodox braking strategy of purposely braking her tires’ traction, thereby allowing her to slide around a corner, not only differs from her family’s traditional style, but also allowed her to overtake the struggling Amaretto for P8. Miho slid around the final corner, pushing the car to its limits down the start/finish straight.

“Well done. That’s two positions on the first lap,” Miho’s radio engineer, Nishihara, confirmed. “Keep pushing and we can see an impressive points finish. Remember, only the top 5 score points.

The laps fly by without much incident until lap 28, when Pepperoni goes wide and collides with the barrier, sending bits of debris into the other cars, damaging the wing of Ikeda in P6, who pits after the safety car is deployed ahead of the rest of the field. None of the other drives went into the pits, as tire changes between two sets of the same type had been banned for the season. Ikeda rejoins just behind Miho in 7 th . Just before the safety car pulls into the pits, a horrible grinding sound resonates from the rear of Galette’s Renault, forcing her to pull into the pit lane, where she soon retires.

Lap 32 is well underway as the two Chi-Ha-Tan girls close in on Natalia, whose drive has been nothing short of glorious. Miho takes the wider racing line, giving her a better run than Natalia, as Ikeda joins in the battle for 4 th . The underpowered Pravda begins to lag behind, being completely overtaken by both Miho and Ikeda by the first corner. Out of turn 1, Miho sees an emotionally distressed Bordeaux who had evidently fallen victim to mechanical problems. The Chi-Ha-Tan cars raced side-by-side through the winding second sector, but Ikeda slightly pulls away. A few laps later, the focused Miho overtakes her teammate on the back straight, nearly getting hit by Ikeda into turn 10.

Soon, the pair manage to approach Rukuriri, lapping Lisa and Moule in the process. Ikeda makes a move on Rukuriri on the straight, but she turns too late. Their tires connect, creating punctures in both and shredding the tires. Pieces of rubber are flung up into the air as the two drivers quickly fall behind Miho and limp to the pits. The race is now over for those two, gifting a potential podium to Miho.

“Push now Miho. It’s currently lap 35, just over half of the way through the race. Rosehip just over half of a lap ahead. If you push and take second, the championship is ours. The team is counting on you, Miho,” Nishihara’s voice rings in her head. A potential championship! 32 laps to catch up to and overtake another driver. Such a task requires complete dedication, which Miho is willing to provide. 

Lap after lap, she pushes, managing to close the gap from half of a lap to just 10 seconds. On lap 58, with just 10 laps remaining she passes Natalia, whose impressive drive could not save her from engine failure. The St. Gloriana Williams of Rosehip is within her eyesight, when tragedy strikes. Rosehip picks up a piece of debris, ripping her left wheel apart. Her suspension collapsing and tearing itself out of the car. Going well over 100mph, Rosehip slams into barrier, getting knocked unconsciousness, yet her engine continues to scream.

Slowing down as the yellow flags come out, Miho has a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Rosehip’s foot is still on the accelerator!” The horrifying truth dawns on Miho as she also sees smoke rise from the rear of the Williams FW28. “She could blow up the car! The gas is heading straight for a fire!” She begins to panic, realizing that she two options. She can keep going, taking P2 and hoping that the nearest marshals can get to Rosehip in time, or she can sacrifice the championship for Rosehip.

Quickly pulling over to the side of the track and turning her car off, Miho unbuckles her safety belts and hops out of the cars. A lapped Lisa drives by as Miho urges her to quickly move out of the way. Scurrying across the track, Miho leans in and turns off the engine of stricken car. Thinking fast, she unbuckles Rosehip, pulling her out and away from the remains, carefully, so as not to cause any undue harm. Race marshals arrive within two minutes, using fire extinguishers to put out any residual flames in Rosehip’s former car. The medical car arrives moments later, picking up the now-conscious Rosehip, who shakily raises her thumb to Miho.

The race is ended prematurely due to the seriousness of the crash and the amount of debris on the track. Despite not finishing the race, Miho had finished over 75% of the race, giving her the last position beneath the finishing cars and any points that go with it, which are the two points of 5 th place. Fondue, Amaretto, and Moule take the podium with a silent reverence for Rosehip. Lisa, the only other finishing driver, is invited to the stand next to the podium as a sign of unity. Back in the garage, Miho hears yelling. “She just cost us the championship! Do you how much that meant to us? She is not staying on this team any longer,” a voice can be heard shouting. Haru Tamada appears, stomping up to Miho, staring directly into her eyes, “your racing days are over!”

That was the day Miho Nishizumi’s life fell apart..

To be continued…


End file.
